Part of a miniature depicting Boethius teaching.
Medieval transcript of The Consolation of Philosophy.
Boethius’ life
Manlius Anicius Severinus Boethius, the last great philosopher of antiquity, born in 480 AD, will make it possible through his works for at least a part of ancient learning to be transmitted to the Middle Ages, which “officially” began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
Boethius is a descendant of the famous Anicius family. He is the son of a Roman consul, and he himself will become a consul. After his father’s early death, care for his upbringing is taken over by his father’s friend Quintus Aurelius Memius Simah, who provided him with the best possible classical education.
Theodoric, Odoacer’s successor, very fond of Roman culture, gathers around him a large number of distinguished and educated people, including Boethius. Boethius acquires the honorary title of patrician, which allows him to devote all his time to science and philosophy. He translates and writes commentaries on numerous works of Hellenistic philosophy, and primarily translates Arius into Latin.
stotela, Plato, and Porphyry.
He is also active in politics and holds high positions – he was a senator, quaestor, consul, and even magister officiorum, the head of government, embodying Plato’s ideal of a person who possesses both wisdom and power. Boethius gains many enemies due to his moral integrity. He is falsely accused of participating in a conspiracy against Theodoric and is sentenced to death and imprisoned in a dungeon in Pavia (modern-day Padua). While awaiting execution, he writes his famous Consolation of Philosophy (Consolatio philosophiae). He is executed in 524 or 525.
A transcription of Boethius’ work Institutio musica (Principles of Music Education) from the 12th century. Thanks to this work, which is based on Hellenistic sources, music takes deep roots in the Middle Ages, and until modern times, this work has served as a music textbook at Cambridge and Oxford.
Boethius’ work
He wrote many works in various fields of science and philosophy.
Yes, and it will have a huge impact on these disciplines for the next thousand and more years. He intended to translate into Latin all of Plato’s and Aristotle’s works, and also reconcile the teachings of these two philosophers. He might have achieved this if his early death hadn’t hindered him. According to some sources, he also translated Pythagoras and other Hellenistic philosophers into Latin.
Among his scientific works, it is worth highlighting the “Institutio musica” (Principles of Music Education), which is based on Hellenistic sources. Thanks to this work, music took deep root in the Middle Ages, and it served as a music textbook at Cambridge and Oxford until modern times. Boethius also composed handbooks on geometry and astronomy.
He wrote a series of theological works with the aim of reconciling ancient culture with Christianity.
In 510, he published his own translation and commentary on Aristotle’s Categories under the title In categorias Aristotelis. His comments on Aristotle’s work On Interpretation, under the title In librum Aristotelis De interpretatione, secured him fame as a great connoisseur of ancient philosophy.
Boethius’ works in philosophy were a bridge between antiquity and the Middle Ages, as for half a millennium during the Middle Ages, knowledge of Aristotle and Plato was known only through his works.
The Consolation of Philosophy
This work by Boethius discusses man, his relationship to nature and God, happiness, destiny, true and false goods, good and evil. Boethius seeks to philosophically, that is, through the understanding of nature and man himself, establish the meaning and value of human life. His philosophy aims to provide comfort and guidance in times of difficulty. She was based on Platonism, Stoicism, and Neoplatonism. Consolation consists of five books with a total of thirty-eight chapters. Each chapter ends with one of Boethius’ poems.
Appearance of Philosophy
“… I noticed a woman standing above my head, of a very dignified appearance: shining and, beyond human power, penetrating eyes; strong posture and inexhaustible vitality, though she was of such ancient age that she could in no way be considered my contemporary. Her figure was mysterious: sometimes she was of average human height, and sometimes it seemed that her head touched the sky; whenever she raised her head higher, she would penetrate directly into the sky, thus eluding the gaze of those who observed her from below. Her dress was skillfully woven from very fine threads and…” “Hard fabrics. She had woven them herself, as I later learned from her. The outer side was covered with a dark shadow of forgotten years, as it usually covers sooty pictures. On the lower edge of the dress, an embroidered Greek letter Π could be read, and on the upper one Θ. Between those letters, stairs in the shape of a ladder could be seen, leading from the lower to the upper letter. The dress was torn by the hands of arrogant people, and each of them took a piece they could. In her right hand, she held a book, and in her left, a staff…”
In response to his question why she came to the dungeon, Philosophy answers that it is not her custom to let the innocent go unaccompanied on their path. Her followers have always been exposed to dangers. Let’s just remember Socrates, Anaxagoras, and Seneca, who suffered because they followed her moral principles.
Boethius answers that he himself is a devotee of philosophy and that he has organized his entire life according to her principles. He took on the responsibilities of a statesman solely for the sake of philosophy.” Philosophy dictates that wise individuals must be accepted in order to prevent the state from falling into the hands of the evil ones.
And yet, it is those wicked ones who are coming after him because he, who nobly carried out his governmental duty, has been accused of treason and sentenced to death.
Philosophy tells him that nothing in the world is left to mere chance, but rather that all events are governed by God’s providence.
Fortuna – destiny, fickle fortune
“This is my true nature, this is my eternal game: swiftly turning my wheel gives me pleasure in raising up what is low and bringing down what is high. Rise, if you will, “provided you do not consider it unjust if you fall again, as my game rule requires.”
Philosophy then speaks:
“What I want to say is so unusual that I can hardly find words to express my thought. I truly believe that people benefit more from a bad than from a good destiny. Good, in fact, always shows itself as happiness, and when it seems to smile upon us, it actually deceives us; bad is always true, because it reveals its instability through eternal change. Good deceives, bad teaches; good binds the souls of those who enjoy it with the shine of false goods, while bad liberates them with the knowledge of the impermanence of human happiness…”
Boethius wants to emphasize that what people consider bad destiny is actually good and beneficial for their soul, and vice versa.
False goods People of ignorance consider these false goods as means to achieve true happiness. These false goods are: wealth, power, fame, high position, and bodily pleasures.
“Thus, some believe that the greatest good is to have no lack in anything and strive to accumulate wealth, while others, believing that the greatest good is what people respect the most, strive to attain honor in order to be respected by their fellow citizens. Some perceive the greatest good to be the greatest power: they either desire to rule themselves or seek to be close to those in power. On the other hand, those who consider fame to be the highest good, make every effort to glorify their name through remarkable achievements, whether in war or peace.”
It is easy to see that none of these mentioned goods is the true Good, as the attainment of any of them does not make a person completely happy. Philosophy proves this through the example of each individual good. For instance, regarding the pursuit of wealth and fame, it says:
“Why do you rush after riches with such noise? I believe that with abundance, you strive to dispel scarcity, although the acquisition of wealth itself does not guarantee happiness.”
“By doing the opposite, you achieve what is contrary to it. … The truth is that those who possess many things need much, and conversely, those who measure their needs according to the demands of nature and not their insatiable desires need very little.”
“… However, you believe that you strengthen your immortality by thinking that your fame will live on in the future? … No matter how long it lasts, when compared to the immense eternity in thoughts, it will appear not only insignificant but completely insignificant.”
Based on this, Philosophy concludes:
“There is no doubt that these paths to true happiness are a kind of deviation and cannot lead anyone to where they promise to take them.”
True Goodness
Croatian:
Existence:
“The universal concern of mortals, manifested in numerous efforts, albeit taking different paths, has the same goal – true happiness… Nature, in fact, has implanted the desire for true good in the human soul, but delusion leads people astray to false goods… This is undoubtedly what people want to achieve and why they strive for wealth, positions, power, fame, and pleasures, believing that they will thereby attain self-sufficiency, respect, power, renown, and pleasure. Therefore, the good is what people seek through so many preoccupations. The power of nature in this matter can easily be observed by the fact that, despite their different and opposing opinions, they still agree in choosing good as the ultimate goal.”
After that, Philosophy proves that the good which all people seek can only be one:
“The True Good must be one. It is the Good after which there is nothing else to desire, the greatest Good that contains all other goods within itself. Individual goods are…” Goodness to the extent that they participate in the supreme Good.”
And it is precisely this Goodness, which is unique and perfect, that is the source of true and lasting happiness:
“Yes, however, there is something that is the source of all other goods, and this cannot be denied. Everything that is considered imperfect is so due to a lack of perfection. From this it follows that if something appears imperfect in a certain kind, there must necessarily exist something perfect in the same kind. … If, as we have just shown, there is some imperfect happiness of a fragile good, there is no doubt that there is also lasting and perfect happiness.”
In the continuation of the text, Philosophy proves that God is the true Good:
“That God, as the beginning of all existing things, is good, is confirmed by the general human opinion. And indeed, since nothing better can be imagined than God, who doubts that what is better than everything else is not good? … If He were not like this, He could not be the beginning of all existing things. … However, we have taken the position that perfect “Goodness represents true happiness well, from which it necessarily follows that true happiness is found in the supreme God. If absolute, true happiness is equal to God, Boethius concludes, attaining happiness makes man godlike. Furthermore, God, as the absolute Good, as the One to which everything aspires, is also the creator of the world order, i.e. its immutable laws according to which everything has been harmoniously unfolding for ages.”
“Do the evil truly have power?”
“So, first of all,” she said, “it is necessary for you to understand that power is always on the side of the good, while the evil are devoid of any power, as one can prove from the other. Since goodness is the opposite of evil, if it is established that power is an attribute of good, then it is obvious that powerlessness is an attribute of evil.”
“Therefore, as the good strive towards their goal – true happiness and union with God – any seeming power of the evil is ultimately superficial and transient.” “Oh, the Good ones, they have the power and the ability to achieve it. The Evil ones do not go towards their goal – the true Goodness – therefore they have no power, they are powerless in achieving the goal they strive for:
“Since the Good ones and the Evil ones both strive for the good, and the former achieve it while the latter do not, can it be doubted that the power lies with the Good ones, and the powerlessness with the Evil ones?”
Philosophy emphasizes that if a person possesses strength and power, they are capable of doing good, but if they do not have them, then they only have weaknesses that aren’t capable of doing good, only evil:
” ‘Evil people, however,’ you will say, ‘can do many things.’ I certainly would not deny that, but their power does not arise from their strength, but from their weakness. They can inflict harm, which they wouldn’t be able to do if they could maintain the ability to do good.”
A person chooses whether to follow moral principles and be honest or lean towards the opposite. His choice necessarily brings appropriate consequences, therefore, the consequences are not chosen by someone else – not imposed.” samo. Međutim, takvo je razmišljanje krivo jer istinsku sreću ne možemo postići samo privremenim zadovoljstvima.
Istinska sreća, prema ovome razmišljanju, dolazi samo kroz usklađivanje našeg duha s najvišim moralnim načelima. To znači da se trebamo truditi živjeti pošteno, čestito i sažalno prema svemu što nas okružuje. Tek tada možemo doživjeti istinsku sreću, jer smo sami sebe povezali s višim ciljem.
Nadalje, ovo razmišljanje ističe da su dobro i zlo, nagrada i kazna međusobno povezani. Ako činimo dobra djela, ona će nam donijeti nagradu u obliku sreće i ispunjenosti. S druge strane, ako se okrenemo zlu i činimo nevaljalstva, sami ćemo sebi nanijeti kaznu u obliku nezadovoljstva i propasti.
Dakle, istinska sreća može se postići samo putem usklađivanja duha s moralnim načelima i činjenjem dobrih djela. Privremena zadovoljstva i izvanjski faktori ne mogu nas istinski usrećiti. Umjesto toga, trebamo se sami angažirati na putu prema istinskoj sreći, prepoznavajući da smo sami odgovorni za svoju sudbinu.
People pursue happiness, but they don’t achieve it because shameful actions do not lead to true happiness. By acting this way, evil people go against their true nature and reject their existence, so it can be said that they don’t even exist because their wickedness has brought them below human dignity. On the other hand, good people, by striving for absolute Goodness through virtue as a good in itself, are truly happy. Furthermore, virtue can be learned, so a person who distinguishes between good and evil is truly happy, and their virtue does not go unrewarded. Philosophy claims that every destiny is good, just, and beneficial, leading a person towards knowledge, virtue, and true happiness. “Pay attention to this,” he said. “Since every type of destiny, whether good or evil, is given with the intention of rewarding or testing the good, as well as punishing or improving the evil, every type is good, because it is clearly just or beneficial.” However, in order to achieve this, a person must be prepared for constant struggle. “Therefore,” he said, “it should not be difficult for a wise man when entering into a battle with fate, just as it should not cause concern for a brave man when the battle trumpet resounds. For both of them, difficulty is the foundation, so that one may increase glory, and the other may confirm his wisdom. Virtue itself is named after the fact that, relying on one’s own strength, it does not allow itself to be overcome by what is contrary to it. You, too, who tread the path of virtue, did not come here to indulge in luxury or endless pleasure. You have entered into a difficult spiritual struggle with every kind of fate, so that evil fate does not conquer you and good does not corrupt you.”
In the continuation of Boethius’ text, he resolves the problem of God’s providence and man’s free will, and at the end of The Consolation of Philosophy, Philosophy concludes:
“Therefore, avoid faults and cultivate virtues; direct your spirit towards true hope and offer humble prayers to the heavens! You have been entrusted with the great duty of leading a virtuous life, if you do not want to deceive yourself in the presence of the vigilant eye of the judge who watches over.” “everything.”
The Significance of the Consolation of Philosophy
The greatness of this work lies in Boethius leading us to the realization that a moral life not only makes sense but is also the only way of life that leads to true happiness through philosophical reflection. And although our own ignorance may deceive us into believing that virtue remains unrewarded, a moral life is itself the greatest reward. No one else assigns to a person except himself, right here and right now.